A Tale to Tell
by jayer
Summary: The tables are turned when this time Annie is the one doing the listening, to a tale she's wanted to know but was afraid it would be rude to ask  Post Houses  of the Holy
1. Chapter 1

Annie watched from the window. It wasn't until she let out a sigh that she realized she was holding her breath. When she told Michael to be honest, she wasn't certain that Danielle would understand why he lied. Annie loved her sister but she also knew that Danielle was not one for being lied to and could be rather snippy and hold a pretty good grudge. At least for a while. Danielle would forgive in the end, but in the meantime it might not be pretty. So seeing her sister's totally understanding and loving response was a total relief. After the last week, Annie needed a drama free weekend.

Annie flipped off the television, hit the lights and padded in hosed feet to the bathroom. Minutes later she was relaxing in a hot bubble bath, the greatest hits of Mingus coming from the old CD player on the shelf. Annie closed her eyes and let the warm water and music lull away the frayed nerves and bruises from her unexpected ass kicking. She'd have to see if Auggie was up for another workout and lesson in dirty fighting. She'd leave a message on his cell so as not to wake him up. After almost 72 hours of non stop, high stress work and an unhealthy amount of coffee and energy drinks, he would be sleeping it off all weekend.

As the CD reached track 10, Annie realized the water was cooling down and figured it was time to get out. She quickly shampooed her hair and ducked under the water to rinse it off. As she sat up, she heard the sound of knocking on the front door. She quickly climbed out of the bathtub, pulling on her robe and grabbing a towel for her hair

"Annie, you awake?" Danielle's voice softly called out from theliving room.

"Yeah. Hang on. ." Annie yanked out the plug and turned off the CD player on her way out. The kids were probably tucked in bed and Danielle had come to talk about what was going on with Michael. As tired as Annie was, it wasn't very sisterly to refuse to listen, at least for a little while.

"Hey Dani-" Annie stopped short when she saw that her sister wasn't alone. "Auggie."

"I didn't think about you being asleep." He said with a blush, "I should have called."

"No, it's okay. I wasn't asleep. "

"I'll leave you to to whatever." Danielle said from the doorway.

"Thanks for showing me up." Auggie nodded to her. "Sorry if I woke your girls up."

"Once they fall asleep, they're out." Danielle said, smiling at Annie. "Nice meeting you, Auggie."

She left without waiting for a reply. Annie knew she would be in for an interrogation in the morning. A guy of reasonable attractiveness, even a blind guy, shows up at ten o'clock at night and something has to be going on. Danielle would assume the best and want to know all the details. Where did he work, how did they meet, how long had they been dating, why hadn't Annie said something sooner. And 'we're just friends' wouldn't cut it. Although letting Danielle think it was more than that might end the awkward "I want you to meet this guy" games. So perhaps Auggie's little social faux pas had done her a huge favor.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey." Annie said with a tired grin. Despite the late hour she found herself happy to see Auggie. He was her only real friend and seeing him there, she realized she'd missed him. "What's in the bag?"

"What's a Saint Bernard without booze?" Auggie said with a grin holding out a well used backpack.

"Still cute and dependable." Annie laughed. Annie got him settled safely on the sofa before quickly tossing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and slipping downstairs to snag a couple of wine glasses and a corkscrew.

"I'm surprised you aren't passed out cold." Annie laughed, carefully handing Auggie his glass. "72 hours of near non stop work and I'd be dead to the world"

"So would I, but 72 hours of energy drinks and Starbucks and sleep wasn't happening." Auggie tipped the glass in a mock toast. "Not for lack of trying. After an hour of basically laying there I gave up. Figured I needed something to counteract all that caffeine but wasn't in the mood for the Tavern."

"Despite the fact that you could have found more than one thing to wear you out." Annie teased.

"Despite the fact." Auggie elbowed her.

"I'm not even going to ask how you found my address." Annie laughed.

They sat in a comfortable silence for several minutes. Lack of space on the tiny loveseat meant Annie was close enough to feel the tension in her friend's lanky frame. Tension that didn't seem to be dissolving with the wine. It didn't take CIA training to know that something was up. Something that might be the real reason for the late night interruption.

"Auggie?" Annie said softly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"The op you were working on? Those guys, they were friends weren't they? From before -"

"My accident? Yeah, they were." Auggie nodded.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Only if you want to tell me."

"I don't really like to talk about it." Auggie said hesitantly.

"Then you don't have to."

"I think I need to," Once started, and perhaps fueled by the glass of wine, the words flooded out. "I haven't been able to get them out of my head, even after the op was done. My brain wouldn't stop. I think that's really what was keeping me awake. Just keep thinking about the op, the accident. I've never really talked about it. Most folks don't seem to want to know, makes them uncomfortable I guess. Which makes me uncomfortable. Catholic guilt I guess. Plus knowing that kind of stuff about someone, in our business it's power. So you can't tell just anyone anything. But I've been needing to get it out for a while. I just never felt like I could trust anyone. Not with the whole story."

It took a moment for Annie to digest the rambling mess of thoughts, but one stuck out very clearly. "You trust me?"

"We are friends aren't we?"

"Yeah." Annie set her glass on the coffee table and tucked her feet up so she could face him. "We're friends."

Auggie grinned softly. "Good. It's a bit of a long story." His voice sounded relived and Annie thought she felt him relaxing just a little.

"I've got all night."


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay. First some background, if that's okay?"

Annie grinned, she had to admit she was extremely curious about Auggie's past and not just the accident. But being CIA meant that getting details out of him was like getting water from a stone. Since he was in a talking mood she was going to take it for all it was worth.

"Sure," She topped off his glass of wine and her own. Dastardly perhaps, but she told the voice in her head to shut up. He wanted this after all. "Get your David Copperfield on."

"I wasn't thinking quite THAT much background." Auggie laughed and took a long drink. "And I wasn't born on a Friday at midnight. More like a Wednesday at three in the afternoon. Youngest of five kids, all boys. The smallest of my brothers was still twice my size. And they were all pretty mean."

"That explains the dirty fighting."

"It certainly got me started. The rest comes later."

"I can't wait."

"I was more brains than brawn. I mean I was an athlete but more of the track and soccer type than football and wrestling like my brothers. Being quick on my feet helped me get away when they and their friends tried to shove me in lockers, toliets, all the stuff you do to a nerd."

"Charming."

"I certainly got very good at fleeing and taking a beating. But I was also good at building, math, computers, codes. Codes were my thing for a long time." Auggie grunted, "I actually learned braille out of a library book to use for passing secret messages to my best friend when we were 10. Ironic I guess. And morse code." Auggie's face lit up, "Sixth grade, Josh and I learned morse code and strung a homemade telegraph between our houses so we could sneak out of bed and talk all night.

"I got stellar grades all through school. A's every time. I was actually valedictorian." Auggie blushed. "I actually took every Advanced Placement class I could and aced them. Did a paper route, worked summers as a lifeguard, even mowed yards, all to save up the money for the tests."

"Which I bet you also aced."

"Yeah," A heavier blush. "I wanted out of Glencoe and away from my family. I love them sure, but I don't particularly like them. Didn't want to spend the rest of my life around them. I wanted to do something big and exciting, maybe something where I could see the world."

"Sounds like prime CIA material."

"You have no idea. I got the money for the tests and cleared my whole freshman year. With the padded grades I was a easy in on a scholarship to M.I.T. I studied computer engineering and systems security. Set myself up as a security consultant, hacking company servers to help them find the flaws. Made some good money that way. Didn't bother to come home for the summers. Just kept working and studying. And playing a little. No steady girlfriends but dates here and there. Studying if nothing else. Plus I was on the track and swim teams."

"Wow, how did you pull all that off."

"I really don't know, but I did. Actually went right into a Master's program. I was walking out of defending my thesis when this woman in a suit walks up and asks if she can buy me a cup of coffee. Three guesses who it was."

"Joan?"

Auggie nodded. "It was not that long after 9/11 and communications was a hot item. My thesis was on securing computerized and cellular communications systems, right up the CIAs alley. Didn't even take me a day to realize that this was my chance at every boy's dream. I could be a real life spy, a superhero. A year at the Farm, top of my class if I'm allowed to brag a little"

"Allowed."

"Joan was my handler. Any mission that required getting inside to hack a system, bug a communications line, whatever. I was her go to boy. I also did tech ops, played around with trying to design better security systems, toys like those PDAs you used on that first mission. Even got to keep my cover as a security consultant and the money that came with it. Got myself a nice little loft space, spacious open floor plan comes in real handy now."

Auggie paused for a long moment. Annie could sense that he was getting to THAT part of the story.

"So what happened?"

"Iraq happened."


	4. Chapter 4

There was a much longer pause. Annie could see the struggle on Auggie's face as he tried to sort out what he was about to say. She sat, waiting, patient. He didn't need to be pushed.

"Fast forward to 3 years ago." Auggie finally said. "I was selected as part of a team going in to set up a covert listening station just outside of Tikrit. Tasked with intercepting everything we could and sending the intel to Langley. No one was particularly surprised that I was picked. I had the skills with the equipment and I had made a name for myself as a tactician. I'd run a dozen mission with Special Ops, never lost a guy. Sure some had been wounded but no on had been killed. I was known for creating solid plans, keeping cool in a crisis, changing the plays when needed. Perfect superstar. The go to guy.

"The plan was to keep the station small. Three men teams rotating on the systems. Two guys on duty while one slept. Swapping out every two weeks. That sort of stuff. I was part of the first team. We got everything set up, starting the tracking. Went off without a hitch. Six months went by and nothing. No one had a clue. I was heading out for one last tour, just to check the equipment for potential problems.

"It was about 5 am when we headed out. Just me and two other guys. Hour into the desert and we spot something on the road. Looked like a dog maybe. But it could have been a person. A kid maybe. So we figure we should stop, make sure. Get out. I'm the last one to walk up, furthest away.

"It happened so fast. I remember getting out of the Humvee, asking Matt what it was. He was squatting down to see. He started to call out as he stood up. Must have been a wire or a pressure plate maybe. Something he tripped as his weight shifted.

"One minute he's standing up, and I could see Devon turning to walk back and then it went off. The last thing I remember seeing is this huge fire ball and their bodies, my friends, exploding into pieces." Auggie choked, tears welling up at the memory, at the picture in his mind.

"I felt myself falling, then this intense pain as if I had hit something. Everything was black. I could barely breathe it hurt so bad. I couldn't move. I could feel something wet and then realized it was blood. It was my blood, spreading across my chest, my arms, my legs. I freaked. I was terrified. I kept calling their names over and over, somehow thinking, hoping that they weren't dead. That I wasn't all alone, bleeding to death, unable to get help, to get to safety. I was going to die out there, all alone. I wasn't ready to die. There was so much I still wanted to see, to do. I wanted to travel for real, get married, have some kids, coach Little League. I wasn't supposed to die like that. I was supposed to be an old man with grandkids I told all my awesome stories to about my great adventures. Not some 26 year old dying alone in the desert where no one would find me. No one to take me home. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right."

The tears broke loose, pouring down Auggie's face. Without even thinking, Annie grabbed him, wrapping her arms around him. Auggie grabbed her arms, as if he was holding on for dear life. She could feel his body shaking.

She said nothing, just held him as 3 years of tears were finally cried. And with them, 3 years of pain, loss, grief, whatever else was hiding behind the smiles, the witty banter. She held him until the tears finally gave way to sleep. And then she held him a little while longer.


	5. Chapter 5

Auggie woke to the smell of fresh brewed coffee. He rolled over, hitting something with his arm. It was then that he realized he wasn't in his bed. Patting the solid mass he quickly determined that he had fallen asleep on a sofa. But it wasn't his sofa, the fabric was all wrong. Who's he wasn't sure, but whoever had pulled off his shoes and sweatsuit and tossed a blanket, no a quilt probably homemade, over him.

He sat up, his head swimming for a moment. He could hear movement in another room. Someone moving barefoot or in socks.

"Hello?" He called out.

"Morning Auggie." Came the reply.

"Annie." In that instant he remembered everything from the night before. Embarrassment made him blush. He had come over, uninvited, on a whim and dumped this huge pile of overshare on Annie. What had he been thinking. She was a co-worker. Okay one she had to entrust her life to from time to time. And now she probably thought he was a total nut.

He heard her footsteps approaching, felt her sit down next to him.

"I've got a cup of coffee for you." He could feel the heat of the cup she was holding out.

He took a long drink. "French roast, lightly sweetened. No milk. Just the way I like it"

"And today you are the first delivery." Annie laughed. "How'd you sleep?"

"Okay." Auggie reached out and put the mug safely on the table. "I'm sorry about last night."

"For what?"

"Showing up like that, dumping all that stuff on you. Passing out on your sofa."

"Don't you mean turning to a friend in a time of need, trusting me with something totally and frighteningly personal and being comfortable enough to accept a little, and it seems to me totally needed compassion and physical contact. Not to mention being totally comfortable and trusting enough to fall asleep in a strange place where I could have murdered you in your sleep."

"Well when you put it that way, I'm not sorry." Auggie laughed. He put an arm around her and gave a light squeeze.

"Good. You shouldn't be. You've been there for me the past few months helping me keep my head above water and it was nice to have a chance to return the favor.

That's what being on someone's team is all about. And in case you need me to say it, I am on your team. 100%. Good and Bad."

"That makes two things you have in common."

"In common? With who? Joan?"

"Yeah. I told you she was my handler before I went into Special Ops right?"

"Right."

"Well after they got me out of Tikrit, I was air-vac'd to the States. I was in rehab learning how to use the cane, read Braille for real. Occupational therapy stuff. All that. Dealing with my mother and her insistence that I come home, that I needed someone to take care of me. How could I cook, how could I clean, do laundry, get around, do my job."

"Seems like some pretty legit questions."

"Sure. And I couldn't fault my mother for worrying. I'm the baby. Little Auggie. I always will be. My future wasn't perfect. A home cooked meal leans strongly on the microwave meal variety although I can make coffee, sandwiches, even cut up fruit, bagels and such without taking off a finger. And okay so I use a laundry service for my clothes. And I have a cleaning service that comes in twice a month. I do miss actually watching movies. Sucks that I have to wait for the DVD since talking in theaters is a no-no and only maybe 1/10th of the movies have an assisted viewing track. Even with all that I really wanted to try. Try to get on with a life of my own. Find a way to make it work, somehow. The only thing rehab couldn't teach me was my job. If I even had one anymore.

"My answer to that question came about two months later. I guess they wanted to give me a chance to adjust to things. When they said I had a visitor, I was sure it was some stiff back suit coming to tell me that I was unfit for duty, offer me a generous medical severance. But it was Joan. She kicks right off telling me that she needs to know when I'll be ready to come back to work. Not field work since my condition means that I can't be cleared for the field. But I can run ops from a desk just as easily. She goes on about how one of our asset companies is already working on setting up vocal feedback systems, a braille read out display, braille printer. Tells me that one of their geeks is hot to try out this echolocation based laser cane idea he's got, just needs a test dummy.

"I'll admit I was a little stunned. Which she noticed I guess because all of a sudden she's asking me if I wanted to leave the Agency. Which I didn't. So I told her it was worth a try. Last thing she says to me is that it won't be easy. I should know that everyone else wanted to cut me loose. But I was the best agent she ever had and she argued that what made me good wasn't my eyes but my brain and it was fine. And that if it ever seemed like she was riding me it was because she knew I could take it. She wasn't going to let me play any pity ploys, especially with her. I might be blind but I could have been dead."

"Wow. And here I thought she was just, well a b-"

"Boss." Auggie finished for her. "Joan Campbell is a very major boss. Never forget it. But it's why I have my job so I don't fault her for it. Even she's being a boss to me. I can take it."

"You can take Joan, but can you take my sister and being grilled about exactly what is going on between us. Because she's got some serious techniques."

"How serious?"

"Waffles from scratch, fresh squeezed OJ, bacon AND sausage serious."

"That is serious." Auggie laughed. "Such torture, I don't know if I can withstand it."

"Guess we better find out." Annie handed him his shoes. Auggie quickly pulled them on and stood up.

"Shall we?"

"Wait a second. You said two things. What's the other one?"

"That one is classified." Auggie said with a smirk. "And no amount of torture, not even Waffle torture, is going to get it out of me."


End file.
